Research & reports

· 農林水産省 · Japan

Official explanation of the 2018 Urban Farmland Lease Facilitation Act, which lets motivated urban farmers, companies, and NPOs lease productive greenland to cultivate or open community farms, excludes statutory lease renewal, and preserves the inheritance-tax deferral after leasing.

Sioen G.B., Terada T., Sekiyama M., Yokohari M. · Sustainability 10(2):435 · Japan

Using GIS grid-cell analysis, the study quantified vegetable-weight and key-nutrient self-sufficiency for each land-use pattern in Tokyo, showing how mixed agricultural and urban land uses contribute to resilience. Tokyo's fruit-and-vegetable self-sufficiency was estimated at 4.27% currently with a potential of 11.73%.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

Under the Urban Renaissance Act, municipalities and owners of low-/under-used land can agree to develop and manage it temporarily as plazas, community gardens and greenery — part of Japan's response to urban 'sponging'.

平江 良成, 小泉 秀樹, 後藤 智香子 · 都市計画報告集 17巻2号 pp.195-201 · Japan

With an author from Tokyu Corporation, this interview-based study analyzes how private firms participate in suburban housing-area regeneration and the conditions required, arguing that developers must engage through composite services including community facilities and new business formats.

国土交通省 都市局, 八王子市「東京クラインガルテン」検討協議会 · 国土交通省 都市と緑・農が共生するまちづくりに関する調査 · Japan

Using Hachioji as a case, this MLIT report examines leveraging private vitality for vacant homes, farmland, and green space, including site visits and interviews on corporate kitchen gardens and business simulations for rental gardens around housing areas and danchi.

藤井 至, 稲葉 修武, 藤田 武弘 · 農業市場研究 27巻1号 pp.12- · Japan

Based on hearings with all Nerima experience-farm operators and user surveys, this paper analyzes how publicly subsidised experience farms support farm management and community exchange, empirically showing effects on profitability, successors and local understanding.

名古屋市 · 名古屋市 農業振興基本方針 · Japan

Nagoya's basic urban agriculture policy positioning publicly operated citizen farms — Nogomi, community and Minori gardens — and resident-farmer connections as core pillars of municipal support.

特定非営利活動法人 Co.to.hana, 金田 康孝 · 国土交通省 都市と農・緑が共生するまちづくりに関する調査（平成29年度） · Japan (Osaka)

Co.to.hana's second-year MLIT study codifying how to reproduce Minna-no-uen's effects — activity data analysis since 2011, international comparables, intermediary-organisation needs, trial social-impact metrics, published as this report and at minnanouen.jp/research.

Kota OGUCHI · The Annals of Japan Association for Urban Sociology · Japan (Saitama City)

This article studies the impact of coordinators for Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, using the Kome Mame project in Saitama City, Japan, as a case study. The Kome Mame project is a collaborative effort involving organic farms, a for-profit company, and an NPO, where the NPO coordinates matchmaking between farmers and companies, builds mechanisms for distribution channel development, and facilitates human-resource exchanges and stakeholder relationships. The study suggests that the coordinator's role as a manager of the relationship between food and agriculture will become increasingly important, and the challenge is whether this role can be established as a socially recognized profession.

Ryo Kawabe, Hiroshi Sakazume · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Nagakute City)

This paper analyzes the importance of social capital in the sixth industrialization of urban agricultural areas, using a case study from Nagakute-cho (now Nagakute City), Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The study found that the sixth industry is an efficient strategy for managing and demonstrating the multiple functions of urban agriculture, farm villages, and agriculture itself, with social capital being a crucial driving force. Nagakute City's initiatives, based on the "Countryside Valley Initiative," were successful, leading to the emergence of an integrated form of social capital combining government-led bonding with bridging among various local residents.

Mattia Scarpellino · · Japan (Tokyo)

This architectural design thesis proposes a redesign of a peripheral area of Tokyo, specifically Nishi-Tokyo, which exhibits both urban and rural characteristics. The study explored how to integrate agri-food production activities in a large metropolitan suburb, its potential social role, and the dynamics generated in relation to contemporary living. Through literature review on living, urbanization, functional nomadism, and digitalization, analysis of urban agriculture aspects focusing on community gardens, and participation in a Tokyo workshop, design scenarios were simulated.

グエン トラン イェン カン, 涼 村田 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Tokyo)

This study clarifies users' roles in urban space creation by examining two renovated open spaces with urban gardening (OSUG) in Tokyo. Through a mixed survey, the spatial settings and user experiences were analyzed, revealing quality parameters such as "usage," "space affordance," and "image of identity." These factors illustrate seven OSUG scenarios, from private resting spots to public playgrounds and community gardens.

· 法令（e-Gov法令検索・430AC0000000068） · Japan

The 2018 act that lets productive green land be leased to a third party without terminating the owner's inheritance-tax deferral. The prospective tenant files a cultivation plan certified by the mayor, giving ageing owners an exit other than selling: handing the plot to a new farmer or a community-garden operator.

Soga M., Cox D.T.C., Yamaura Y., Gaston K.J., Kurisu K., Hanaki K. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(1):71 · Japan

A questionnaire survey of 332 allotment gardeners and non-gardeners in Tokyo compared five self-reported outcomes: perceived general health, physical complaints, BMI, mental health and social cohesion. Allotment gardeners reported better general health, fewer complaints, better mental health and greater social cohesion, indicating that urban allotment gardening can improve residents' physical and mental health and community ties.

食都神戸推進チーム（神戸市） · 食都神戸・Gastropolis Kobe（公式サイト） · Japan

An official document explaining the basic concept of the Gastropolis Kobe 2020 vision that Kobe City announced in 2015. It frames how Kobe—a city of 1.5 million with farmland in its Kita and Nishi wards and fishing grounds along its coast—rebuilds its urban brand around food, advancing local consumption, urban agriculture and rural exchange.

· 参議院常任委員会調査室『立法と調査』No.394 · Japan

Legislative analysis by the House of Councillors research office, organizing the regulatory framework for urban farmland (productive greenland, taxation, leasing) and examining the rationale and issues behind the 2018 lease law in light of the 2022 problem.

Uchiyama Y., Matsuoka H., Kohsaka R. · Journal of Ethnic Foods · Japan

Questionnaire survey in Komatsu City, Ishikawa, on public recognition of Kaga and Noto traditional vegetables, showing gender/age differences in awareness and information sources, with implications for transgenerational transmission and branding.

de St. Maurice G. · Food, Culture & Society 20(2) · Japan

Examines how Kyoto's Shishigatani heirloom squash, though considered not delicious, persists as culinary heritage through cultural embeddedness, temple rituals, and distinctive form, showing heritage value beyond flavor.

特定非営利活動法人 Co.to.hana, 金田 康孝, 西川 亮 · 国土交通省 都市と農・緑が共生するまちづくりに関する調査（平成28年度） · Japan (Osaka)

First-year MLIT-commissioned study by Co.to.hana validating usefulness and replicability of community farms on urban unused land, using Kitakagaya Minna-no-uen as the model — surveys, environmental monitoring, stakeholder interviews and an expert panel producing a start guide and dissemination roadmap.

国土交通省都市局 · 国土交通省都市局 · Japan

A MLIT survey report on using vacant urban land as community gardens, taking Kitakagaya's 'Minna no Uen' in Osaka as a key case and analyzing its operation and effects through user surveys, stakeholder interviews and neighborhood research.

三橋友美, 寺田徹, 横張真 · ランドスケープ研究 · Japan

A 2017 study of 62 Japanese 'experience farms' (taiken nouen) classifying operating structures by how far private companies are involved (Landscape Research Japan 80(5), pp. 647–650). In 48 farms the company mainly manages the plot and assists participants; in 4 the company leads operations and directs participants' activities; in 10 the farmer leads and the company only provides support. Corporate assistance widens the set of farm households able to open an experience farm, but the intensity of involvement varies with each site's physical and social conditions. The authors highlight the farmer-led, company-supported type as previously undocumented and potentially valuable for developing self-directed operators. Profit and loss and survival rates are not covered.

Christoph Rupprecht · Land · Japan

This study analyzed residents' perceptions, use, and management preferences for informal urban green spaces (IGS) in four major shrinking Japanese cities (Sapporo, Nagano, Kyoto, and Kitakyushu) using a large online survey of 1000 residents. Residents viewed IGS as a common element of the urban landscape, but their evaluation was mixed. Recreation and urban agriculture were preferred over redevelopment and non-management, and for participatory management, residents emphasized the need for city administration to mediate usage and liability, along with financial and non-financial support. Approximately 10% of residents expressed willingness to participate in management activities.

Daisuke Machida, Tohru Yoshida · PubMed · Japan

A cross-sectional study in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, investigated the relationship between fruit and vegetable (FV) gardening and health-related factors among men aged 50-74. Community gardeners showed significant positive correlations between gardening frequency/time and perceived changes in FV intake and physical activity. Logistic regression models indicated that community gardeners had significantly greater physical activity, and other types of gardeners had greater FV intake, perceived neighborhood social cohesion, and less sitting time compared to non-gardeners.

Masahiro Nakajima · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

This paper reviews trends in urban agriculture development and conservation in Japan, noting that urban agricultural land has been encroached upon by residential buildings due to population growth, creating mixed-use areas. While measures to promote urban agriculture are being adopted following the 2015 Basic Act, the paper emphasizes the need to highlight its food supply function. It also suggests classifying urban agriculture by different actors: urban farmers, collaborations between farmers and citizens, and citizens using urban agricultural land.

Shimpo N. · 博士論文 (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Tokyo) · Japan

Doctoral dissertation systematically analysing the historical development of urban-type gardens and agricultural activities in Japan. Traces the emergence and evolution of diverse urban agricultural spaces—allotment gardens, community gardens and the like—forming the basis of Shimpo's later books and papers.